Variations in solar and geomagnetic activity with periods near to 1.3 year

It is known that solar wind velocity fluctuates regularly with a period of about 1.3 years. This periodicity (and other signals with periods near to 1.1 and 0.9 years) has also been observed in biological data. The variation is a temporary feature, mostly being observed in the early 1990s. Here, the occurrence of these periodic signals in solar and geomagnetic activity between 1932 and 2005 has been investigated. The signal with 1.3 year period is present in geomagnetic activity only in a short interval after 1990 and to a lesser extent around 1942. At other times the signal is very weak or not present at all. Other periods are much lower amplitude and appear only sporadically throughout the time investigated. A connection between these periods and solar cycles (e.g. different even or odd cycles) has not been proven. It is possible that there is a long-term periodicity in the occurrence of the 1.3 year period but the time series data available is insufficient to confirm this. There are no such periodicities in solar activity. In order to gain a greater understanding of these periodic signals, we should search for their origin in interplanetary space.     

Palynology and sedimentology of the Miocene series in the north-east of Tunisia: the climatic and eustatic signature

The Saouaf syncline is located in Tunisia Centre north-east, south-east of the Tunisian dorsal. The sedimentary series, starting with limestone and marlstone, is essentially an alternation of three terms, sandstone, clay and lignite. It is in this basin that the Saouaf Formation was defined as a siliciclastic and lignite series dating back to the Serravallian-Tortonian age. The pollen associations identified in this series allowed for the organization of the vegetation in the era in altitudinal levels (coastal environment, rivers edges, plains, high zones). The evolution of vertical micro-floristic associations through the detailed analysis of the palynological diagram reflects the fluctuation of climatic and ecological parameters during this period. Moreover, the facies associations reflect an evolutionary curve in the depositional environment, showing its fluctuation over time. Accordingly, the synthesis of palynological data, correlated with lithosedimentological ones, suggests the type of environment prevailing at that time. This is a coast-lagoon fluvio-deltaic environment with a significant detrital influence in a subsiding context controlled by a fluctuating but generally warm climate.     

Neogene rotations of the Chenoua massif,northern Algeria,from remagnetizations

The tectonics of the Chenoua massif suggests block rotations of Neogene nappes associated with the African–European plate convergence. To estimate the extent of these rotations, a Paleomagnetic study on rhyolites and andesites of Langhian–Serravallian age and sandstones of Burdigalian age was carried out on 23 sites (200 specimens). The sites are distributed in the northwestern, southeastern and southern Chenoua massif. One or two components of magnetization, mainly carried by magnetite, pyrrhotite and/or hematite, were isolated in sandstones and volcanics. The sandstone sites reveal magnetizations in sandstones from the Cap Blanc syncline that are post-folding. However, both polarities are found, which is consistent with data from Africa during the Upper Miocene. Clockwise and counterclockwise rotations were recorded, dating back to the Neogene times in volcanics and sediments. From the faulted Cap Blanc syncline counterclockwise rotations of 1?±?4° to 18?±?28° around a vertical axis occurred in sediments since the Miocene with respect to Africa. In fact, remagnetizations occurred at several periods of time and in different sites, providing information on the evolution of post-tectonic rotations. Some volcanics record counterclockwise rotations of about 30° since the Miocene, whereas others do not show any significant rotation. This can be explained by the direction of the principal compressive stress axis σ ₁ and by lateral extrusions related to an indentation model, in which we expect both clockwise and counterclockwise rotations.     

Numerical Simulations of the Microscale Heterogeneities of Turbulence Observed on a Complex Site

We simulate the microscale heterogeneities of turbulent variables observed at a complex site for different wind directions. The atmospheric computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results are compared with an ensemble of 36 months of data collected at the experimental site SIRTA “Site Instrumental de Recherche par Télédétection Atmosphérique”, located near Paris (France) in a semi-urban environment. The experimental data show that the normalized turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) k/U ² (where k is TKE and U is the wind speed) at 10-m height, for two different locations, is highly dependent on wind direction and strongly influenced by trees. These measurements show a strong increase of the normalized TKE downstream of the forest canopies with a large variability within the 36-month period in part due to the variation of the tree foliage. The numerical simulations are carried out using the CFD code Code_Saturne with the standard k?ε closure, in neutral stratification. The buildings are taken into account explicitly in the mesh and the forested areas are modelled with two approaches: the classical roughness wall law and a drag porosity. A comparison has been performed between the calculated values and the median of measured values of the normalized TKE and the normalized friction velocity, for each wind sector of 10°. A very good agreement is obtained with the drag porosity model, whereas the classical roughness law leads to a strong underestimation downstream of the forested areas. However, this large improvement of the results using the drag porosity model can only be obtained with a refinement of the grid, especially in forested areas, and an accurate land-use map.     

Spatial distribution of stream sediment pollution by toxic trace elements at Tourtit and Ichoumellal abandoned mining areas (central Morocco)

This study presents a diagnostic of the current state of 114 stream sediment samples by their elemental concentrations (Sb, Cd, Pb, As, Cu, Zn, Ni, Cr, and Hg), collected from Ighardayane upstream on an area of 15 km² located at the SE part of central Morocco where Tourtit and Ichoumellal, two abandoned mining sites of Stibnite, are located. Several approaches were used to model the analysis (i) enrichment factor (EF), (ii) sediment pollution index (IPS), (iii) probable effect concentration-quotients (PEC-Qs), and (iv) potential ecological risk index (PERI). Results show highly contaminated areas around the old mining sites by Sb As, Pb, and Cd. Cadmium and lead show 86.9 and 12.29% (respectively) of trace element pollution according to sediment pollution index. Twenty-eight percent of the sampled area is potentially highly toxic because of the presence of Hg, Pb, and Cd. The very similar distribution of pollution and toxicity of most analyzed trace elements may originate from the same source, which corresponds to mining wastes where we recorded the highest pollution and toxicity degrees. This environmental issue represents the combination of Tourtit and Ichoumellal anthropic sources responsible of Sb, As, Pb, and Cd release and a probable natural source of Hg “that needs a further study,” which contribute in the degradation of an aquatic ecosystem of the same area. Therefore, both ecotoxicological analysis and stream sediment quality management should be carried out to control this aquatic ecosystem toxication.     

Fractal dynamics of geomagnetic storms

We explore fluctuations of the horizontal component of the Earth’s magnetic field to identify scaling behaviour of the temporal variability in geomagnetic data recorded by the Intermagnet observatories during the solar cycle 23 (years 1996 to 2005). In this work, we use the remarkable ability of scaling wavelet exponents to highlight the singularities associated with discontinuities present in the magnetograms obtained at two magnetic observatories for six intense magnetic storms, including the sudden storm commencements of 14 July 2000, 29–31 October and 20–21 November 2003. In the active intervals that occurred during geomagnetic storms, we observe a rapid and unidirectional change in the spectral scaling exponent at the time of storm onset. The corresponding fractal features suggest that the dynamics of the whole time series is similar to that of a fractional Brownian motion. Our findings point to an evident relatively sudden change related to the emergence of persistency of the fractal power exponent fluctuations precedes an intense magnetic storm. These first results could be useful in the framework of extreme events prediction studies.     

On persistent primary variables for numerical modeling of gas migration in a nuclear waste repository

Numerical simulation of gas migration driven by compressible two-phase partially miscible flow in porous media is of major importance for safety assessment of deep geological repositories for long-lived high-level nuclear waste. We present modeling of compositional liquid and gas flow for numerical simulations of hydrogen migration in deep geological radioactive waste repository based on persistent primary variables. Two-phase flow is considered, with incompressible liquid and compressible gas, which includes capillary effects, gas dissolution, and diffusivity. After discussing briefly the existing approaches to deal with phase appearance and disappearance problem, including a persistent set of variables already considered in a previous paper (Bourgeat et al., Comput Geosci 13(1):29–42, 2009), we focus on a new variant of the primary variables: dissolved hydrogen mass concentration and liquid pressure. This choice leads to a unique and consistent formulation in liquid saturated and unsaturated regions, which is well adapted to heterogeneous media. We use this new set of variable for numerical simulations and show computational evidences of its adequacy to simulate gas phase appearance and disappearance in different but typical situations for gas migration in an underground radioactive waste repository.     

Relative importance of dissolved and food pathways for lead contamination in shrimp

The relative importance of dissolved and food pathways and the influence of food type in the bioaccumulation and retention of lead in the shrimp Palaemonetes varians were examined using a radiotracer method. Shrimp were exposed to ²¹⁰Pb-labelled seawater or fed two types of ²¹⁰Pb-labelled food, viz. mussels or worms. The amount of radiotracer accumulated by shrimp was examined over a 7-day period, followed by a 1-month and a 7-day depuration period for the dissolved and food source, respectively. Steady state in the uptake was reached after 2 days exposure to dissolved lead, with a resultant estimated concentration factor of 98 ± 3. Transfer factors following ingestion of contaminated mussels and worms were lower than unity for both food types, with lead transfer from worms being significantly higher than that from mussels. Accumulation of dissolved Pb by shrimp was found to occur mainly through adsorption on the exoskeleton with a minor accumulation in the internal tissues probably resulting from the intake of seawater for osmoregulation. In contrast, lead taken up from contaminated food was readily absorbed and bound in the internal tissues of P. varians. Although the transfer of lead to P. varians through the ingestion of contaminated food was low (TF < 1%), it still represented 4 to 8% of the lead content in the prey which is a significant additional contribution of lead to the shrimp body burden. Independent of food type, following ingestion of contaminated food, approximately 23–27% of total lead accumulated in shrimp was located in the edible parts (e.g. muscle). Therefore, the food pathway is suggested to be a significant contributor to the lead transfer to humans through ingestion of contaminated shrimp. After exposure to contaminated food, lead loss kinetics were described by a two-component model, whereas Pb loss following direct uptake from seawater was best described by a three-component model. The additional compartment representing 64% of total Pb retained and characterized by a turnover < 10 min, corresponded to lead weakly adsorbed on the exoskeleton and incorporated in the hepatopancreas. Nevertheless, a significant fraction of lead accumulated from the dissolved (2%) and food (52–57%) pathways remained irreversibly retained in the tissues, suggesting that this organism could also serve as an effective long-term bioindicator of lead contamination in marine waters.     

L'Arenig–Llanvirn du Haut Atlas occidental et central (Maroc). Environnements sédimentaires,paléogéographie et contrôle de la sédimentation

The sedimentological study of Arenig–Llanvirn successions of Aït Lahsen (western High Atlas), Tizi-n-Tichka and Imini (central High Atlas) allow us to recognise two independent epeiric seas. In the western High Atlas, the sedimentation occurred in a wave- and storm-influenced delta, alimented by a source situated at the present-day location of the Argana corridor, under the control of sea-level fluctuations and subsidence. In the central High Atlas, the sedimentation occurred in an influenced tide and episodic storm delta, alimented by sources situated at the present-day location of the Siroua and Ouzellagh Massifs under the control of sea-level fluctuations and tectonics. To cite this article: C. Chacrone, N. Hamoumi, C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

A model of capillary cohesion for numerical simulations of 3D polydisperse granular media

We present a 3D discrete‐element approach for numerical investigation of wet granular media. This approach relies on the basic laws of contact and Coulomb friction enriched by a capillary force law between particles. We show that the latter can be expressed as a simple explicit function of the gap and volume of the liquid bridge connecting a pair of spherical particles. The length scales involved in this expression are analyzed by comparing with direct integration of the Laplace–Young equation. We illustrate and validate this approach by application to direct shear and simple compression loadings. The shear and compression strengths obtained from simulations reproduce well the experimental measurements under similar material and boundary conditions. Our findings clearly show that the number density of liquid bonds in the bulk is a decisive parameter for the overall cohesion of wet granular materials. A homogeneous distribution of the liquid within the bridge debonding distance, even at low volume contents, leads to the highest cohesion. The latter is independent of the liquid content as far as the liquid remains in the pendular state and the number density of liquid bonds remains constant. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.